Your Weekly Crypto Updates #8 ??

?? Binance.US Acquires Bankrupt Crypto Exchange

Voyager Digital announced that Binance.US had won a second bidding process to acquire the company’s assets after FTX’s bankruptcy filing. The company had billions of dollars worth of crypto from 1.7M users at the end of 2021, but a broader market downturn and a series of bad bets have chipped away at the firm’s available capital.

?? US Senators Propose Increase in Tax Threshold for Venmo, PayPal, and CashApp

Two US Senators have proposed increasing the tax threshold for third-party payment networks. The proposal would increase the threshold for platforms like Venmo,?PayPal, and CashApp from $600 to $10,000.

CNBC?reported that the two senators are riling an amendment to the $1.7 trillion spending package to affect the third-party payment threshold. Moreover, the increase would alter the tax reporting status of Form 1099-K from popular financial services.

?? Twitter Integrates Live Crypto Charts

Social media giant Twitter has integrated a new cryptocurrency feature, allowing users to check the current prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum. The graphics display the logo of the market tracking site TradingView and a link to Robinhood, but it’s unknown how these firms are involved. Elon Musk stated that this is just one of many product improvements.

?? BlockFi Seeks Permission to Withdraw Assets

Troubled cryptocurrency lender, BlockFi has filed a motion with the US Bankruptcy Court to allow its customers to withdraw some of their cryptocurrency. More specifically, the motion is related to funds kept in the users’ BlockFi Wallets that were locked due to the firm’s problems. The company described the move as an important step towards returning assets to its clients.

?? Ethereum's Energy Consumption Fell 99.99%

The Merge unified Ethereum’s Proof of Stake Beacon Chain with its mainnet execution layer. As a result, Ethereum switched from processing transactions and blocks of data using a Proof of Work consensus mechanism (the same used by Bitcoin) to a Proof of Stake system.?

This led to a 99.9% reduction in the network’s energy consumption and an 88% drop in new Ether inflation. It also meant dropping miners in favour of a new breed — stakers who could offer up their Ether to participate in tending the blockchain.

?? US Senator Introduces New Stablecoins Bill

Republican Senator Pat Toomey has introduced a new bill aimed at creating a regulatory framework for stablecoins. The Senator called stablecoins an exciting technological development that could transform money and payments. Toomey added that by digitizing the U.S. dollar and making it a global, instant, and nearly cost-free payment solution, stablecoins could be widely used across the economy.

?? Palau to Launch a Stablecoin in Collaboration with Ripple

Some countries are looking to jump on the?crypto?bandwagon and are mulling the creation of national?stablecoins, despite occasional setbacks, such as the bankruptcies and arrests among some of its previously prominent players.

One of the governments eyeing this endeavour is that of the Republic of Palau, with its president Surangel S. Whipps Jr., stating that the country’s IT team was actively working with?blockchain?company?Ripple Labs, exploring the possibility of launching a “national stablecoin,” as he?told?Bloomberg’s?Joanna Ossinger in September.

?? Large Bitcoin Miner Files for Bankruptcy

Core Scientific, one of the US’s largest publicly traded crypto mining companies, has filed for bankruptcy. Nevertheless, the company still generates positive cash flow and plans to continue mining while repaying debt holders. Core Scientific stock is down 98% this year amid dropping crypto prices and rising energy costs.

?? Japan Set to Unban Foreign-issued Stablecoins in 2023

Japanese regulators are reconsidering some major cryptocurrency restrictions related to the use of stablecoins like Tether or USD Coin.

The Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan will lift the ban on the domestic distribution of foreign-issued stablecoins in 2023, local news agency Nikkei?reported?on Dec. 26.

The new stablecoin regulations in Japan will allow local exchanges to handle stablecoin trading under the condition of asset preservation by deposits and an upper limit of remittance. “If payment using stablecoins spreads, international remittances may become faster and cheaper,” the report notes.

?? Most Googled Cryptos in 2022

As expected, Bitcoin has emerged as the most googled cryptocurrency in 2022, attracting over 28 million monthly searches worldwide. While interest in Bitcoin has remained relatively high, more surprisingly, Dogecoin came in second and Shiba Inu third. Even with Ethereum’s much-hyped merge in September, it only managed to secure the fourth spot.

?? Fidelity files trademark applications for NFT-marketplace

$9.6 trillion asset manager Fidelity Investments has filed trademark applications in the United States for a host of Web3 products and services, including a nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace and financial investment and crypto trading services in the metaverse.

This is according to three trademark filings?submitted?to the United States Patent Trademark Office (USPTO) on Dec. 21, which was highlighted by licensed trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis in a Dec. 27 tweet.

Sam Bankman-Fried - The Disastrous Collapse of FTX ??

?? Caroline Ellison Admits She and Others Stole Billions From FTX Customers

Caroline Ellison, a close associate of FTX founder?Sam Bankman-Fried, apologized in court this week as she pleaded guilty to fraud and other offences, telling a judge that she and others conspired to steal billions of dollars from customers of the?doomed crypto exchange?while misleading investors and lenders.

“I am truly sorry for what I did,” Ms. Ellison, the former chief executive of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s crypto-trading firm, Alameda Research, said in a New York federal court, according to a transcript of the hearing made available Friday. “I knew that it was wrong.”

?? SBF (CEO of FTX) Spotted On a plane

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been pictured in the American Airlines business class lounge at John F. Kennedy International Airport before flying to his parent's home in Palo Alto, California, on Thursday.

The co-founder and former CEO of collapsed crypto trading platform FTX was released on a $250 million bond on Thursday. He was required to surrender his passport and stay with his parents ahead of a federal?trial?over the failure of FTX.

?? The Plot Thickens ????

In the transcript of her December 19th plea hearing,?Caroline Ellison?admitted to hiding Alameda Research’s billion-dollar loans from FTX. Ellison was the CEO of Alameda Research and one of the three executives implicated in the fraud case against FTX. She pleaded guilty at the subsequent hearing and spoke on the extent of her and Sam Bankman-Fried’s enterprise.

According to the transcript reported by?Reuters, Ellison, Sam Bankman-Fried, and other executives would receive billion-dollar loans from Alameda Research. Furthermore, the hearing shows that the crypto hedge fund was able to borrow unlimited assets from the exchange platform.

That's all for this week's?Your Weekly Crypto Updates???

As always, please Do Your Own Research (DYOR), and I will see you again next week.

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